Doge's Palace.

The cold pig's head on the table has been tasted by the land lord, and Wang Yuan asked the cook to take it to make braised vegetables.

In the evening, the braised pig's head is cut, and the palm lamp is set for wine drinking.

Zhang Xuan and Wang Yuan sat opposite each other, and suddenly said: "General system, I am going to Zhangzhou and heard a piece of news that I don't know whether it is true or false. ”

"What's the news?" Wang Yuan asked with a smile.

Zhang Xuan filled Wang Yuan with a glass, poured himself a drink, and said: "There is a group of red-haired ghosts, who came from the land of Taixi, and have occupied Manraka (Malacca). The maritime merchants in Zhangzhou who took the Nanyang Passage called these red-haired ghosts the Francophone people, and they brought countless spices with them to trade privately in Guangzhou, and they were said to have made a lot of profits. ”

Franc machine?

Is it Portugal or Spain?

Wang Yuan was a little confused, and he couldn't tell which country it was, anyway, it was either Spain or Portugal.

"What do you think?" Wang Yuan asked.

Zhang Xuan ate the braised pig's head and said: "Send someone to Guangzhou, recruit the Franc machine, let him do business in Hangzhou, and collect heavy taxes on him to get a large sum of silver." In Guangzhou, two percent of the tax is levied according to the routine, but in fact, the tax is more than three percent, and if Hangzhou only levies two and a half percent, those Francophone people will definitely be willing to come. ”

Wang Yuan said: "Guangzhou is taxed, regardless of the type of goods. We should treat differently the goods that are beneficial to the country and the people, and the tariffs are slightly lower. Extravagant things for pleasure must be heavily taxed! ”

"It's a very good law." Zhang Xuan praised.

When Zheng He went to the West, he brought back a lot of pepper. Due to the imperial court's monopoly on maritime trade, pepper became a luxury item, and it was deliberately sold slowly. As a result, after the pepper is landed, it is sold from the official tooth shop to the private merchants, and then the private merchants sell it to the people, and the official tooth shops can make a profit of ten times, and the private merchants can also make a profit several times!

One can imagine how much silver Zheng He earned for the imperial court, and how frightening the price of pepper was.

The Portuguese Ou Weizhi, in fact, arrived at the mouth of the Pearl River by ship as early as the eighth year of Zhengde. Although Owich was not allowed to land, he sold out of his goods and made a huge profit. His son contracted the disease and died and was buried on the spot in Tuen Mun O. A few years later, O'Wai Chi was also buried in Tuen Mun O by a friend, and the father and son were reunited in a prefecture in China.

Two years ago, Pires, a Portuguese, wrote a book called "Oriental Chronicles" based on information provided by Owige and Chinese doing business in Malacca. The book soon returned to Europe and became as famous as Marco Polo's Travels.

Half a year ago, the Italian-Portuguese captain Bellestellero came to Tuen Mun Ao again to trade and made a profit...... Twenty times!

From Malacca to Guangdong, a tariff of 30% was levied, and it made a profit of 20 times.

Of course, this was a special case, because the Portuguese had scarce goods from the West.

Zhang Xuan took another glass of braised pig's head: "I heard that Guangdong is full of private ports, as long as the tariffs are drawn, the three divisions are too lazy to care. The sea in Guangdong is already half open! ”

"The remaining half, how can you not finish it." Wang Yuan said regretfully.

Chen Jin, the governor of Liangguang, and Wu Tingju, the political envoy of Zuobu in Guangdong, were both officials who advocated the introduction of customs and taxation, and were also officials who advocated "half-opening the sea."

What is the "half-open sea"?

Foreign merchant ships were allowed to trade in China, and heavy taxes were levied on the opportunity. At the same time, Chinese merchant ships were prohibited from going to sea, and the ancestral system of sea prohibition was selectively and strictly enforced.

And this kind of "half-open sea" led to the eunuchs of the Guangdong City Governor and the officials of the three divisions of Guangdong. The eunuch wanted the city to collect taxes, and the civil officials wanted to let the three divisions collect taxes, and when Liu Jin was in power, the eunuchs won, and after Liu Jin's death, the customs revenue was controlled by the three divisions. Anyway, it has nothing to do with the household department, and it is absolutely impossible for the tax money to be handed over to the central government.

Tuen Mun Island (Lantau Island) in Guangdong has been called the "Island of Trade" by the Portuguese. Merchant ships from Luzon, Bo Ni, Annam, Dongpu Zhai, Cham, Japan, and Ryukyu crowded the waters of Tuen Mun O, and the local officials in Guangdong turned a blind eye to the collection of taxes, completely unaware of the sea ban.

Zhang Xuan said: "When the fleet comes back from Japan, it is time to take advantage of the trade winds to go to the South Seas." When the time comes, I plan to take a sea ship to Tuen Mun Island first, and invite merchant ships from all countries to come to Hangzhou for trade. Take another trip to Malacca to find out the reality of the Franco. Manraka is a subordinate of my Ming Dynasty, and unknowingly, he was destroyed by this Franc machine, and the Franc machine will be a big disaster in the South Seas! ”

Wang Yuan casually made it up: "I also heard from the pirates that the Franc machine ship is strong and the cannon is sharp, and there is also a thing called sweet potato. Sweet potatoes can survive in barren fields regardless of the land, and the yield is amazing. If you get this thing and plant it in China, you can live for all people. ”

"Is there such a thing? Then I'll have to pay attention. Zhang Xuan was skeptical.

In fact, Wang Yuan didn't know what year the sweet potato was transmitted to Asia, so there was nothing to lose by inquiring anyway.

……

Four groups of merchant ships, totaling more than 110 ships, sailed from Hangzhou to Japan.

Hangzhou City Bo Division, tariff 130,000 taels.

In addition, the sale of sea quotation documents (sea trade license, valid for five years) will get 525,000 taels of silver. Most of them were owed on credit, and the maritime merchants said that they would give it after making money, and Wang Yuan agreed in order to open the sea smoothly.

This money is nothing, and it will increase in the future.

Once sent to the capital, it is guaranteed that Zhu Houzhao will be crazy. It is the head of the household department, Shi Jue, who is estimated to have to be short-handed, and he doesn't dare to speak so loudly to Wang Yuan.

Shi Jue is already going crazy, and the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty are also going crazy.

The prince and the princess lived successfully for 100 days, the prince was named Zhu Zaiyun, and the princess was named Zhu Xuanzhen.

At the end of September, the auspicious day of the zodiac was selected, Zhu Zaiyun was appointed as the crown prince, and Concubine Zhuang was named the imperial concubine.

And then the moth came......

In early October, Zhu Houzhao, accompanied by Jiang Bin, secretly left Beijing from the victory gate. Liang Chu, Jiang Mian, Mao Ji and others inquired, and hurriedly rode horses to catch up, and finally caught up with the emperor in Changping, kneeling on the ground and crying to the emperor to drive back.

Zhu Houzhao didn't listen and went straight to Juyong Pass.

Zhang Qin, the imperial historian of the customs patrol, refused to open the door because Zhu Houzhao did not have the formalities in order and did not carry the customs clearance documents with him. Zhu Houzhao knew that he was at a loss, so he had to return to the capital.

A few days later, Zhang Qin went out to inspect and was not in Juyongguan. Zhu Houzhao immediately went out of the city, and the generals guarding the pass did not dare to disobey, so they had to open the door and let him go, and at the same time sent people to Beijing to report the news.

"What? Your Majesty has run again! Liang Chu was shocked.

The ministers looked at each other, so they had to try their best to hide it, and then sent someone to recover the emperor.

Unable to catch up, the emperor ran too fast, and he had already arrived at Xuanfu in a puff of smoke, and proclaimed himself "the governor of military affairs, the mighty general and the chief military officer", and in the name of this order, all border towns.

is different from what is recorded in the history books, after Zhu Houzhao arrived in Xuanfu, he did not build a "Zhenguo Mansion" - after defeating the little Mongolian prince, Zhu Houzhao proclaimed himself the Zhenguo Mansion, saying that it was pure nonsense that he built the Zhenguo Mansion in Xuanfu. did not seek pleasure and asked for the wives and daughters of the officials and the people; did not harm the people, forcing the local people to live in poverty.

On the contrary, after Zhu Houzhao settled down in Xuanfu, he immediately began to rectify the army and strictly enforce military discipline. He also frequently mobilized the generals in the border areas, belittled those unqualified guards, and transferred generals from all over the country who could fight.

This was followed by an inventory of the number of soldiers, replenishing them as much as possible, and ordering the household department to hurry up and bring in grain and grass.

Then it is to take stock of the official pastures, collect available horses, and reorganize the cavalry troops.

Anyway, all for the sake of fighting the little Mongolian prince.

Because the emperor personally sat down and ordered, the military affairs on the border of the Ming Dynasty improved rapidly, and even corruption and deduction became reined in.

Jiang Bin is also a ruthless person, in order to make meritorious contributions in wars, he has become extremely "incorruptible" by setting an example, and he also requires generals everywhere to be conscientious and responsible. Who dares to be disobedient, the emperor is here, just get rid of it.

It's a pity, it's just a gust of wind.

When the battle is over and the emperor leaves the border town, the army will return to its old state, regardless of whether it wins or loses.

At the same time, since the emperor was not in the capital, the government was controlled by the cabinet, the six ministries and the celebrant supervisor.

The cabinet, the six ministries, and the celebrant Zhang Xiong frantically seized power, and Zhang Xiong was even more unscrupulous and corrupt. The entire court was in a mess, and no one cared about Wang Yuan's opening of the sea in Hangzhou.